So I'm finally watching nuBSG

All right, I'm asking here so I can avoid Googling it.

Unlike Boomer, Caprica Sharon was never under the impression that she was human, right? She always knew she was a Cylon, but she turned as a result of falling in love with Helo (and maybe because of what Six describes as the weakness of her model)?

Correct.

She must have had at least some of Boomers memories, but she always knew she was a Cylon.

That did lead to what has become infamous as one of the worst placed commercials though (don't watch this until that event happens obviously)

Oh, for fuck's sake.

Cally?

Did the writers just sit down at some point and go "Hey, let's kill off all the women?"

I think the Cally thing was more about the actress wanting out of the show to focus on her sex cult thing.

Also, hmmm. Not wanting to spoil too much for you going forward, you only have a half season left or so it appears so enjoy.

Dradis Contact! Launch the Alert Callys!

I realize characters dying is a dramatic tool, but I'm starting to get a Whedonesque "not as progressive as I want you to think" vibe and it's pissing me off. The only women who might make it through the final episode without ending up dead, a Cylon, or both are Racetrack and Seelix (who don't get very much to do) and Roslin (who's terminally ill).

Also, this whole thing is starting to feel a little ridiculous:

Yeah, the first season of BSG was among the best ever. And there were some great eps after that.

But ultimately, I felt that it didn't live up to its promise. Maybe you'll feel differently.

Still love the battle scenes though.

Am I the only one who thought the whole New Caprica arc was boring my first watchthru?

Get back to your space odyssey, lazy cunts!

You know what random thing jumped out at me from the New Caprica arc?

Unless Jamie Bamber spent all summer overeating and not exercising, the makeup artists did a really good job depicting Apollo's weight gain in a noticeable but also realistic way.

Oh, and I just in the last few episodes noticed the credits at the right time to realize that Hot Dog is Adama's real-life son.

I'd love to see a "lower decks" episode with Hot Dog, Racetrack and some of the other characters who we mostly just know as voices over the comm channel.

Shame about the loss though, where it just took one episode of him hitting the gym.

Um, pretty much?

Having Boomer, Athena and a whole bunch of other Eights on the ship at the same time is confusing as fuck.

Like, I think what just happened is that another Eight came to Boomer's cell, Boomer knocked her out and went to Athena and Helo's quarters, attacked Athena and stuffed her in a closet and is now seducing Helo, but I'm not totally sure.

Guess I'll find out in a few minutes...

I'm all the way through. Initial thoughts:

• Powerful. Epic. Melancholy in the way that epic things often are.
• I need to back and rewatch from the beginning, because I think there are a lot of things I missed or didn't recognize the first time around. Both plot points and character moments for people like Tyrol, Cally, Racetrack, Crashdown, and others who were around from the beginning but were hard to really notice until they got more screen time.
• Still bothered by some things about the way female characters are handled.
• I have a lot of questions about the way the Cylons work that I'm hoping will become more clear the second time around.

Also, bouncing back a few episodes, there was something I really loved about seeing Apollo and Starbuck during Gaeta's mutiny. One, because both characters had been through so much, had so many confusing things thrown at them, but it was like a switch flipped for both of them and they suddenly both had total clarity of purpose. Two, because the way they were able to just snap into working together seamlessly said so much about their friendship.

Okay, so how do Cylon memory downloads work?

When one of the rebel Eights gets weird with Helo and starts rubbing his back, she tells him that she accessed Athena's memories from when she downloaded to rescue Hera. This implies that Cylon memory backups are not a regular thing and happen only when their bodies die. (Also, if they could access any Cylon's memory at any time, couldn't they have just used Boomer to locate the fleet?)

But Athena seems to have been programmed with Boomer's memories for her mission to New Caprica. It seems like she would have to have a near-complete set of memories in order to trick Helo, since they probably knew each other pretty well -- even though he has no idea that humanoid Cylons exist, too many discrepancies would make him go "uh, Sharon, what's up with you?" and make it harder for her to fulfill her mission.

Everything you said here? Yes. The show is extremely information dense and it takes one review at least, maybe at a slower pace, to get what it's saying. Most likely several, there's a whole lot of nuance packed in there. But I'm glad you enjoyed it overall the first time. I reckon the next time you get around to it you'll see things in a slightly different way given the outcome. Embrace.

Al of this has happened before, all of this will happen again.

There are some cheats and logic holes to make the story work. Classic example is the one where the Centurions board Galactica. Up to this point, Helo has been killing Centurions pretty easily with a sidearm. After the episode, Centurions are pretty easily killed with conventional small arms. But for this ONE episode? Takes an exploding round. EXACTLY in the head. There are plenty of cheats like that. But the story is compelling enough that you let them slide.

Not sure if you know, but there are a few extra bits.

One is the movie Battlestar Galactica: Razor which came out between the third and fourth seasons. It is based around the Pegasus, covering both Lee's early time in command of it as well as what Pegasus got up in the days before and after the attack on the colonies. Definitely worth a watch and fills in a lot of Cains backstory.

The other is The Plan which covers a lot of the events of the show but from the Cylons perspective. It's worth watching, but I would suggest giving a break before going into that one.

Razor is included with the Peacock stream, so I watched that at the point where it originally appeared. I haven't seen The Plan yet, nor the webisodes.

The Plan fills in some gaps, but I don’t think it was necessary.

There’s also Blood and Chrome which is Adams’s mission which he mentions in the first season when he finds Leobon and they first find out that Colons look human. And there’s Caprica, don’t waste your time with that one. The only pay off is in the last ten minutes of the last episode.

Starting a rewatch, and the first "new thing" I picked up, 19 minutes into the miniseries, is the original BSG theme used as an intro for the news show Baltar is interviewed on.

Thinking about getting the blu-rays so I can watch with commentaries, though.

It's also the "Colonial National Anthem" played on the Galactica-as-Museum-Ship.

It's also used in the documentary that D'anna Biers makes in "Final Cut".

Cylons are nearly impossible to distinguish from humans ... except that their spines glow with pulsating orange light whenever they have sex.

More doggystyle and reverse cowgirl could have saved many, many lives.

That too is part of God's plan. Why do you think they call it missionary?